Wed, 12 Jun 2019 20:11:43 -0700WeeblyWed, 02 Nov 2016 16:43:47 GMThttp://www.benjamison.com/blog/now-that-the-election-is-overWell, maybe not quite yet. But it isn’t at all too early to start thinking about when it is.

I’ve seen a lot of posts asking questions like, “Is this the best we could come up with” and statements like “We deserve better.” Well, yes, that is the best we could come up with and no, we don’t deserve better. We had the election we had because the consciousness of our country permitted it. Whether you hate(d) Trump, Hillary, or both, it is the collective consciousness of all of us that put them there. It doesn’t matter if you supported Bernie, or Jeb, or any of the other candidates. Your hates, loves, fears, aspirations, etc., intermingled with the same of everybody else, all added up to Trump and Hillary. It all added up to one of the nastiest elections in recent memory. But, it is done now (or is about to be). The question becomes, what now?

Regardless of the outcome, we have about 2.5 years before the next campaign season for President kicks off. What do you want it to be like next time? If you want more of the same, then kick back and bide your time. But if you want something different, you have 2.5 years to change your consciousness! If enough of us undertake this challenge, next time will be better.

So here is what to do:

Make a list of everything from this election cycle that embarrassed you.

Add to that list everything about any candidate that you hate, can’t stand, find deplorable, etc.

Take your lists into the bathroom and look in the mirror.

Everything on your list, you are related to in one way or another. Everything on that list triggered you in some way. Perhaps it touched a hurt place, or brought up something you fear, or pointed out something you have been involved with that you aren’t proud of. Whatever it is, if it is on your list, it is in your consciousness.

Consider this. Consider the word thaplarigton. How do you feel reading that word. Odds are, you feel nothing because you have zero relation to thaplarigton. It is a made up word and so has no relation to you whatsoever. Let's try some real words...

Can. Leaf. Paper. Pretty neutral on all of these, right?

President Clinton. President Trump. Still neutral?

The reaction you experienced didn’t happen in the blog post, it happened in you. The blog post didn’t cause you to feel upset, your own associations with those words did. The upset happened in you. Now, if you think about the fact that pretty much everybody in the country has negative energetic reactions to at least one of these and that all of that negativity is part of the collective consciousness of our country, you can see why we got the election we did. It isn’t Trump or Hillary’s fault any more than it's the blog’s fault that you reacted when you read the words. Trump and Hillary are the result of the upset, not the cause of it. They are the trigger to let us know the upset we carry around inside. They are the mirror being held up to each of us so that we can see where our work is. No two people who make the list I suggest will have the exact same list. Many items will be similar, but not all. Similar items for different people might have more of a charge than for others. Every list will be different.

Now, you have your list. You have 2.5 years to work on clearing up that list. Where are the judgements you need to forgive? Where is the hurt place inside that needs some extra love, care, and attention? How do you participate in those very things and how can you change your behavior? The more of this list you clear for yourself over the next 2.5 years, the better the next Presidential election will be for all of us!

Phew! Big task ahead. Well, that is part one. Now for part two! (Don’t worry, part two is way more fun)

Make a list of everything from this election cycle that liked.

Add to that list everything about any candidate that you like, find inspiring, or think is demonstrating something positive (challenge yourself to include at least one thing about the “other” candidate(s))

Take your lists into the bathroom and look in the mirror.

This list reveals as much about you as the first. You are related to everything on this list. Every item is something you do now, want to do more of, are energetically aligned with, etc. If these things and qualities are what you liked about this election, it would be great to have more of them in the next, right? So, you have 2.5 years to embody these more than you did this year. How can you consciously practice the things on this list? How can you lovingly and actively support what you are for, not fight what you are against?

The more you clear from your consciousness of list one, the less negativity there will be in the next election. The more you embody the things on list two, the more of positivity there will be.

No, we did not deserve “better” than we got with this election. We got the perfect match to our cultural consciousness. Yes, they were the best we could come up with, by evidence of the fact that they were what we came up with. The question is, will enough of us do the personal growth work to upgrade our experience in 2020?

]]>Wed, 27 Apr 2016 16:45:10 GMThttp://www.benjamison.com/blog/its-all-about-meIn common usage, the statements, “it’s all about me” or “you think it’s all about you” are not generally positive. However, the truth is, it is all about me. It is all about you. Everything in my experience is the way it is in my experience because of me. It isn’t about the events that happen around me. It is all about me, and how I interpret those events. I’ve written about this idea before. It is a big idea and can be incredibly powerful when used to change your experience. Anything going on around you, anything in your experience, you can look at from the perspective of “how am I related to this” or “where do I do that exact same thing” or “what is this telling me about me?”

A big one right now for all of us (note: I’m not taking sides here) is the presidential election. Let's take a look at the politics of the day from this perspective. Who is your least favorite candidate? What is the most terrible awful thing about them? Those are probably pretty easy questions to answer. Now, where in your life do you do that thing? Where do you do that to others? Where do you do that to yourself? If you really look, and are completely willing to see, you might be surprised at what you discover. If you have a hard time coming up with something, ask a loved one whom you trust. Most likely, with enough exploration, you’ll find how you are engaged (in one way or another) in the same activity that pisses you off so much about the candidate.

From this perspective, the candidates you “hate” may be the best for you. Not necessarily to vote for, but the best for you personally because they can so powerfully point you to where you can do the inner work on yourself to change a habit, raise your standards, or forgive long-held judgments.

Now, it may be, that after a lot of soul searching, you can’t find any way that you do that thing. If this is the case, the question then becomes, “what is mine to do to help shift this?” How can you be the catalyst that helps eliminate that thing from the community around you? How can you be an example of a different way of being that doesn’t engage in that thing?

So, here is to the presidential candidates that piss us off! Here is to those who we are sure would destroy everything if they were elected. If we have the boldness to look where they are pointing in ourselves, they may well help to uproot the very consciousness that allows such animosity and contention to exist in the first place.]]>Wed, 13 Apr 2016 17:14:01 GMThttp://www.benjamison.com/blog/living-in-the-pastWe’ve all heard the suggestion to “live in the moment,” and this is indeed a good suggestion. As we all know, the past has passed and we only have power in the present moment. However, I’ve been realizing lately that this goes even deeper than most of us think…

One of the primary tenants of a spiritually focused life is that Consciousness creates our experience. Consciousness (the sum total of everything you have ever said, thought, felt, or done) not only colors how you experience the events in your life, but draws those events to you to begin with. For example, if you believe the world is out to get you, not only will you see your experiences as proof of that belief, but experiences will be drawn to you by the energy of your belief that align with your belief. Put another way, like attracts like or birds of a feather flock together.

However - consciousness coming into form and experience, for the most part, doesn’t happen instantly. If, for example, you want a certain type of car, it is not very likely to pull into your driveway all on its own with the title sitting in the passenger seat. You will build up your consciousness around that type of car. You’ll work on your feelings of worth and deserving around having such a car. Whether consciously or unconsciously, you will build a vibrational match to that car before you ever get the car. Once your consciousness matches the car, things will shift and you’ll get the car. But the conscious of the car was in place before the car. Put another way, the inventor has the idea of the invention before you can go buy it.

What this means is that everything physical is in the past. The consciousness you had yesterday is different than the consciousness you have today and yet the things in your physical experience today are the end result of a consciousness that you had before and has grown since.

This has been up for me in terms of prosperity recently. I created a budget yesterday. I looked back on what my paycheck was last week, based on a certain salary that was awarded last month, that came about because of the consciousness that I brought to my work when I was first hired six months ago. I’m living in the past. The consciousness that I have around prosperity today is much different than it was 6 months ago.

“Well, that's a lovely idea, but I can’t pay my mortgage today based on my consciousness today. I have to pay it with the money I have, which you say is from the past. So, I have to live in the past if I want to live in my house,” says the part of my own consciousness that is still struggling to hold on to what once was. And that is true. As long as we are in the physical world there will be physical world structures and agreements that will need navigating. The point is not to somehow shun them and work outside of them, but to transcend them. “I am happy to circulate to you this money, which is a representation of what my consciousness was a month ago, knowing that an even more abundant experience is current being birthed from my consciousness of two weeks ago and my consciousness today is germinating something even greater yet!”

Our personal power does not lie in being able to rearrange the same pieces over and over again, expecting there to be a brand new outcome possible. Our power lies in creating new pieces! Yes, we must rearrange the pieces, because that is being “in the world.” However, while rearranging the pieces, we can be creating more and different pieces, which is being “not of the world,” or not dependent on the pieces that currently exist.

So… Everything you see around you is the past. The couch, the car, the salary, the bills. All the past. The more you tie your self-worth to these things, the more you give your power over to them, the more you are living in the past. Rather, enjoy all the things around you. Your consciousness brought them to you to serve you. Perhaps this service comes in bringing comfort and grace to your experience. Perhaps this service is in making you uncomfortable so you’ll purpose yourself towards growing your consciousness. But enjoy it from the perspective of what once was, not what currently is. What currently is, is your consciousness - grown and expanded by your every single thought, feeling, word, or deed since. It is a consciousness that is right now creating and drawing to you new, more expanded experiences that match it today. By the time they arrive, your consciousness will have grown yet more.

Of course, this could catch you in the trap of living in an imagined future, and we don’t want that either. So live in the present by establishing the mindset of “what am I doing with my consciousness right now? How am I growing it? What am I thinking that I no longer want to think? What thought could I think that is more aligned with where I want to go? How can I be of service in this moment?”]]>Tue, 05 Apr 2016 17:37:59 GMThttp://www.benjamison.com/blog/timeI recently took a brief 4-week class on prosperity. I’ve done prosperity classes in the past and have always benefited from them. There is always something more to learn, some way to deepen my practice, so I was eager to take another class. One of the areas where I am putting extra attention after completing the class is time.

It is not uncommon for people to hear “prosperity” or “abundance” and think only about money, however it involves much more than just money. Think about it this way. If somebody offers to pay you $1,000,000 an hour, but you have to work 20 hours a day, 7 days a week until you die, would you feel prosperous? Certainly prosperity relates to money, but it also relates to time, health, and relationships as well.

For me, time has been an area where it has been far too easy to see lack and limitation. “I don’t have time to exercise because I have to do all this other stuff. I’d love to learn the piano, but there is no time for that. I don’t even have enough time to sleep a full 8 hours and still feel like I have a life!” Any of that sound familiar? Of course, this line of thinking doesn’t make me feel good, or prosperous, or abundant. It makes me feel trapped and victimized by circumstances. Take a look at those statements. What is the common theme? What is the common focus?

All of those statements focus on what I feel I can’t do, rather than what I can. They are all focused on something I am choosing not to do in lieu of doing something else, but from a perspective of being a victim. Try this on for size. Feel into the following statements…

“I can’t go exercise because I don’t have enough time!”

VS

“I let's see… With the time I have I can mow the lawn, read a book, exercise, work on a house project, or watch some tv. I can get at least two of these in, maybe three.”

Each statement comes from the exact same circumstance. Which feels better? Which feels more abundant and prosperous? Which way would you prefer to phrase your experience?

For me, I’m working on retraining my conscious to the latter. I still fail, often, but I’m catching myself more and more, sooner and sooner. “I don’t have time to...no, wait… What DO I have time to do?”

Unlike last week, I decided that today, I had time to write a blog post. I have the time to retrain my mind to look at time in a new way. It only takes the intention to do so and a few seconds when you catch yourself thinking about a lack of time to make a shift. Do you have the time?]]>Tue, 22 Mar 2016 17:37:18 GMThttp://www.benjamison.com/blog/tigers-above-tigers-below-pt-iiI hope you’ve had some meaningful introspection from the story of tigers above, tigers below last week. (If you missed it, click here).

Here are some of my insights from the story…

Focus on problems, get more problems: The story starts with the woman running from a problem, tigers. No sooner does she think she’s escaped, then more tigers (problems) arise. Then, the mouse (problem). The more focused we are problems, the more we will see and experience problems. Where attention goes, energy flows. Seek and ye shall find. Look for problems and you’ll get plenty.

You can run, but you can’t hide: It begins with her running from a problem, rather than addressing the problem. She runs right into the same problem again. Of course, once the mouse enters the picture, it becomes clear that she won’t be able to avoid the problem much longer. Much the same for us, if we ignore, rather than address an issue, whether in the physical world or our internal world, we will continue to run into it until we do. If we avoid it long enough, eventually, we’ll be forced to face the issue. So, it is much wiser idea to address the issue right away. Furthermore, the longer we wait the fewer options we have. She could have addressed the issue any number of ways before climbing down the vine, but her refusal to deal with the issue right away, severely limited her options.

Tigers, or paper tigers?: How often are the “tigers” we face really tigers at all? How often are they actually paper tigers that we have no reason to fear, but our refusal to look them in the face makes them seem so real and threatening? Was she running from actual tigers or imagined tigers?

There is always good to be had: In the midst of it all, she saw the strawberry and decided to enjoy it. The tigers didn’t stop her, the mouse didn’t stop her. There was joy to be had, rich experience, good, just waiting for her right in the midst of a seemingly impossible situation. She could have ignored it and continued to focus on her problems, but chose not to. For us, there is always a growth opportunity in every experience, always a way to be benefited, no matter what the circumstance. Now, it was a strawberry, not a raspberry. Think about the difference between the two. Both are juicy and flavorful. But the strawberry is so much bigger than the plant that grows it. It is easy to pick, easy to enjoy. The good that is available to us in all situations is not thorny. We don’t have to be careful when accepting it so at to not get hurt.

Let's go a step further. The story doesn’t say, “she ate the strawberry as the mouse chewed through the vine causing her to crash to a brutal and violent death.” What happens when she picks the strawberry? She focuses on the good and the tigers, the vine, the mouse, everythings else is gone. Think back to when you read the story. Did you completely forget about everything else in the story with its last line? I sure did. Going back to the top - focus on problems and get more problems. Focus on good and problems melt away.

Of course, these are all very high-minded ideals. In practical application, it can be really hard to find the good in certain situations, let alone focus on it. And yet, stories like these and contemplation of the deeper meanings behind them help to open us to what is possible. So, I encourage you to take another look at the story. Spend some more time in contemplation and, like the strawberry, thoroughly enjoy it!]]>Thu, 17 Mar 2016 17:28:56 GMThttp://www.benjamison.com/blog/tigers-above-tigers-belowI recently came across this Buddhist koan (basically, a story or riddle designed to get you contemplating) that is too wonderful not to share.

Feel free to adjust the gender of person in the story as you see fit…

A young woman was being chased by tigers. Eventually she came to the edge of a cliff and there was a vine hanging off the cliff. She began to climb down the vine to safety. Soon, the tigers were at the edge of the cliff watching her. As she began to climb down she noticed that another group of hungry tigers had gathered on the ground below her. As she sat there pondering what to do next, she began to hear a munching sound. She looked up to see a mouse chewing on the vine above her. The young woman looked from side to side to see if there was an escape and she noticed some wild strawberries growing out of the side of the cliff. The young woman picked one, put it in her mouth, and enjoyed it thoroughly.

So… what is the moral of the story? How deep can you go? Koans have levels upon levels upon levels of meaning. The more you contemplate them, the more you find within them. Which is a lot like you and me. The more you contemplate you, the more you find within.

I could share some of my contemplations on Tigers Above, Tigers Below, and I will...in next week’s blog! For now though, give it some thought of your own. And, if the tigers aren’t too scary, post your thoughts and ideas in the comments section, below.]]>Wed, 09 Mar 2016 18:11:06 GMThttp://www.benjamison.com/blog/right-on-timeI recently had the extreme pleasure of seeing the artist, Ellis, live in concert. If you ever have the chance to see her perform, do not hesitate!

Several of her songs were very impactful for me. One of them, Right on Time, was the inspiration for this post.

The song is about the unfolding of life and the chorus says, “Right on time. You are right on time.”

So many times I’ve had the experience of going after a certain thing or experience and getting frustrated with how long that thing seems to be taking to get. Invariably, once everything does come to fruition, I see exactly why it took the time it did to manifest and I am grateful that it didn’t show up soon. It was right on time. My arrival at that experience was right on time.

For me, this is a reminder to not fret about the time something might be taking and to allow the creative process to work. If there is a divine order to the Universe, then anything that can come to you will come to you - not on your timeline, but the divine timeline. It will come right on time. This is a big idea. It requires trust. You must trust that the unlimited source of all good is moving the cosmic tumblers to unlock the door to what you are seeking and that the door will unlock when everything is ripe.

But then how do you know that there isn’t something you should be doing? How do you know the difference between allowing creation the time it needs and just dawdling, not doing what is yours to do to bring about the shift that will cause the door to open? Once again, it comes down to trust. You must trust your wisdom, including the wisdom of your body.

Do you feel anxious? Do you feel you need to do something, ANYTHING, to make it happen? Is there a gripping feeling inside, like you are clinging desperately to a certain outcome? If so, relax. You’re right on time. Everything is right on time. No need to push the river. Let it be.

Is the urge to action calm? It is matter-of-fact? Is it free from insistence on a certain outcome? If so, you’re right on time. Your desire to take action is right on time. The results of those actions will be right on time.

Believe me, I understand that this is not necessarily an easy mindset to cultivate. I’ve been working on it for a little while now and still struggle with it. But, as with all things personal growth oriented (in my opinion anyway) it is well worth the effort. And, having the amazing song in my head is very helpful. So, check it out here…

]]>Tue, 01 Mar 2016 18:12:26 GMThttp://www.benjamison.com/blog/standing-on-principleStanding on principle is an interesting thing. Sometimes, we see such an act and label it brave. Other times we think, “cutting off your nose to spite your face.” I recently had (am still in the midst of, actually) a very interesting experience of this that I’d like to share.

I recently reached out to a former talent agent of mine to see about working with them again after returning to the midwest from Los Angeles. They were very willing to work with me again and gave me a copy of their contract for me to review and get back to them the next week. Part of the contract was a nominal upfront fee to get headshots put on their website. I was very excited to see what might come from getting back in the industry in my hometown, but this fee didn’t sit quite right with me. It wasn’t the amount of fee, but the principle of it. Agents get paid only when their actors get paid. So, I had a choice. Pay the fee and move forward, or not. My internal dialogue went something like this...

“It's a minimal fee, and if you book one job, you’ll make way more than that back. Besides, this isn’t L.A. Different market, different rules?”

“Yeah, but it's been drilled into me for nearly 20 years - you never pay any upfront fees. No professional actor in L.A. would pay a fee. No agency would survive in L.A. if they charged a fee!”

In the end, I couldn’t talk myself into it and sent an email saying that if they would waive the fee, I’d be happy to work with them. Did I cut off my nose to spite my face? What do you think?

The story continues. They replied to my email and offered to cut the fee in half. How about now? Pay the fee? Say no? I worked very hard to join SAG/AFTRA, the professional acting union. So I went to their website. It is very clear. Franchised agencies are to charge no upfront fees of any kind as a condition of their franchise agreement. This agency is a franchised agent.

I decided to copy and paste from SAG’s website the requirement of not charging upfront fees and inform the agency that I would not be paying any upfront fees. So the question comes back. Did I cut off my nose to spite my face? One regional, union commercial would get me probably in the order of $2500. The half price fee was $50. So what do you think?

Here is the point to all this. We look at the choice of another to stand on principle and label it brave or foolish. But it doesn’t matter what we think because we aren’t the one with the principle being challenged! Absent of my internal experience, it would be so easy to say “$50 for the possibility to make $2500 or more off one job? How stupid to not do it!” However, I would gladly miss out on $2500 to not feel conflicted inside. A different person may not care at all. In fact, all the current clients of this agency didn’t care. But their not caring doesn’t make my caring wrong. And my caring doesn’t make their not caring wrong.

In the past, I know I have looked at an individual standing on a principle that I thought was foolish and thinking, “what an idiot!” No more. I get it. I can’t know what is going on inside of another. I can’t know their motivations or intentions, so how can I say if they are being brave or cutting off their nose to spite their face? Who am I to judge?

I said earlier that I was still in the midst of this “standing in principle” experience. My next decision is whether or not to file a report with the union. What do you think? How would you judge me if I did? How would you judge me if I didn’t?

​]]>Tue, 16 Feb 2016 18:38:19 GMThttp://www.benjamison.com/blog/valentines-2017Another Valentine’s Day has come and gone. How was your’s? Valentine’s day has become something quite special for me. I met my wife on Valentine’s day, but the significance of this day goes way beyond that. It has become a touchstone for me of how our consciousness creates our experience. I’ve already told you end of the story - I was introduced to my wife on Valentine’s day (in a church, by the minister who would end up marrying us). Here is how the story begins…

For a very long time, I was single. Not just unmarried, but not involved in any relationship of any kind. For various reasons (none of them justified) I had bought into the idea that I wasn’t deserving of a relationship. Back then, I would refer to Valentine’s Day as “Single’s Awareness Day.” I would wish couples a “happy Single’s Awareness Day,” say that I celebrated Single’s Awareness Day, etc. For years I did this… and for years, nothing changed.

Eventually, I recognized that by putting so much attention on the fact that I was single, on a holiday when there is so much focus on relationship, I was keeping myself stuck. I decided I wasn’t going to do that to myself anymore and stopped referring to it as Single’s Awareness Day. Rather than being upset at the holiday, I decided to use the extra focus in race consciousness on relationships to help elevate my intention and desire to be in a relationship. Rather than disparaging Valentine’s Day, I would visualize what I wanted to experience instead. I looked for expressions of love and allowed those to open my heart. Two Valentine’s Days went by without a shift, but on the third… On the third I met the woman I would marry and I knew it!

It is so easy to disparage Valentine’s day. Everything is at least twice as expensive, everywhere is crowded, etc., etc., etc. The complaints are familiar to all of us. However, those complaints do nothing to change the day itself, but they do determine our experience of it.

Whether you are in a relationship or not, want to be or don’t want to be, I strongly encourage you to take a look at your experience of this holiday and your views about it. How do you talk about Valentine’s Day? What thoughts spin in your mind? Are those words and thoughts supporting the experience you want to create? If not, make a different choice. Let the additional pull of race consciousness lift your intentions higher. All that focus “greases the wheels” of creation. You can use that to support creating a new experience, or to lock yourself into what you don’t want. You’ve got a whole year now to decided. Will next Valentine’s Day be a drudgery, filled with complaints about a made-up holiday to sell cards and chocolate, or will it be a celebration of love, regardless of your relationship status?]]>Wed, 10 Feb 2016 17:14:40 GMThttp://www.benjamison.com/blog/the-worlds-we-live-inI'd like to start this post with a bit of a disclaimer: This post is not about taking sides. It is not about right-making or wrong-making. Please don’t read any of that into this post, because...I’m going to be making some observations about the Presidential race. :)I like to vote, and I like to feel informed when I do so. As such, I’ve watched two or three Republican debates and two or three Democratic debates. Each time, I sit transfixed by how strikingly different the two worldviews are. Democrats and Republicans walk in the same country, but live in such different worlds. So, let's get rid of the party division. Pick your favorite party. You’ve got two candidates on the Democrat side and for the Republicans, you have seven on the main stage. None of them seem to live in the same world either! The way they all talk to and about each other shows drastic differences in experience and belief, yet we are all on the same planet. Same planet, different worlds.Well, what about the experts? One expert economist will say Person A’s plan will bring prosperity and Person B’s will destroy the global everything. Another will say the opposite. And these are experts, people who supposedly have the facts! So who is right? Who is wrong?(Wait, Ben. I thought you said this wasn’t about right and wrong!)They all are, in equal measure. They are all 100% right in that their experience is their experience. They are all 100% wrong in that their experience is not how things actually are. You and I are included in that “they.” Our experience is our experience, but it is not how things actually are. The more we can remember this, more less likely we are enter into “I’m right, you’re wrong.” Rather than the separation that comes from right/wrong, this perspective can be unifying. “I have my experience, you have your experience. I’m like you and you’re like me in that we are the only place in all of creation that our individual experiences exist.”Now, I recognize that this mind set is a whole lot easier with people you’re close to than it is Presidential candidates, but why not practice where it's the most challenging and where there is the most opportunity? We will have countless chances, regardless of our candidate of choice, over the next many months. So, the next time you hear a quote from Bush/Clinton/Trump/Cruz/Sanders/Rubio/Carson/Kasich/Christie (in no particular order), take a pause. Remember, their experience is 100% right for them, but not the Truth. Just like yours. See if you can take the edge off your experience. It’s going to be a long election cycle...it already has been! The sooner we get good at this, the better our overall experience will be.​]]>